Images of the Day

Tuscaloosa County legislative delegation members, from right, Reps. William Thigpen, Chris England, Robert Bentley and Gerald Allen and Sen. Phil Poole address the up-coming 2008 regular session of the Alabama Legislature that begins Feb. 5 at the annual forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Tuscaloosa.

Mark Heinrich, shown Monday, is the new president of Shelton State Community College.

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute students Shakeara Jordan, left, Briana Jones, center, and Janay Kittrell, right, work together on a math problem while substitute teacher Amon Carter, far back, teaches the class, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, in Baltimore. A year is a long time in a child's education, the time it can take to learn cursive writing or beginning algebra. It's also how much time kids can spend with substitute teachers from kindergarten through high school _ time that experts say is all but lost for learning. Yet despite tremendous pressure on school administrators to increase instructional time and meet performance deadlines under the 2002 No Child Left Behind Education law, the vacuum created by teacher absenteeism has been all but ignored.